Refrigerating apparatus



Jan. 9, 1962 D. c. UNGER REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Aug. 5, 1957 &

INVENTOR. Dona/a C. Unger His A Q f/orney United States Patent 3,016,511 REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Donald C. Unger, Grosse Pointe Park, Mich., assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich.,-a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 5, 1957, Ser. No. 676,114 1 Claim. (Cl. 339-126) This invention relates to refrigerating apparatus and more particularly to a protected terminal arrangement for use in conducting current through the wall of a sealed motor-compressor unit.

In view of the fact that the motor-compressor housing receives rather rough handling after-the terminals have been installed but before the motor-compressor housing is mounted in a refrigerator cabinet any unprotected projecting terminals would be subject to excessive damage during such handling. It is an object of this invention to provide an inexpensive terminal arrangement wherein the terminals are protected against such damage by means of an integral portion of the terminal mounting bracket.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a terminal mounting bracket which insures correct assembly of a terminal even though the exposed terminal pins are somewhat similarly constructed on each side of the mount- Y ing bracket.

Further objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, wherein a preferred form of the present invention has been shown.

In the drawings: I

'FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary elevational view with parts broken away showing the outer side of the terminal as sembly;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical sectional view taken substantially on line 22 of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view showing the terminal attached to a hermetically sealed motor-compressor unit.

Referring now to the drawings wherein a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown, reference numeral generally designates a hermetically sealed motor-compressor housing in which electric terminal pins 12 project through the wall of the housing and are supported by means ota special terminal protecting bracket 14. The bracket 14 is substantially cup-shaped and is adapted to have a reduced bottom portion 16 which extends through an aperture 18 in the wall of the casing 10 as shown in FIGURE 2.

The member 14 is flash welded into place so as to provide for a hermetically sealed joint between the member 14 and the casing 10. The terminals or prongs 12 are insulated from the member 14 by fused glass insulating bushings 20. Fused glass insulating bushings of this type are well known in the art and need no further descrip tion. They are very etfective in hermetically sealing the terminals or prongs 12 in place and provide good insulation but are subject to damage if not fully protected against damage. It has been customary practice in the past to weld a separate terminal protecting shield to the casing for this purpose but such a shield adds cost to the unit, requires separate handling, separate welding, and is otherwise objectionable.

Patented Jan. 9, 1962 In the embodiment shown herein the flange of the cupshaped mounting element 14 protects the exposed terminals from damage. The outer rim of the cup-shaped mounting element 14 is cut away as indicated at 22 so as to allow space for the connector element 24 which is used for connecting the terminals 12 to a source of power. The element 24 is of conventional construction and includes an insulating member 26 which serves to support a plurality of terminal engaging clips 28 secured to the end of the power lines 30 as shown.

By virtue of the above described construction and arrangement the outer rim of the cup-shaped mounting element 14 not only serves to shield the terminals 12 but also serves to prevent mounting the terminals with the wrong end projecting into the compressor housing. IFurthermore the shoulder formed by the different diameters of the side walls oi the cup-shaped element serves to accurately position the assembly relative to the casing 10 so that the terminals 12 always project into the casing the correct amount.

In order to simplify the disclosure, the construction of the motor and compressor mechanism within the housing has not been shown. The inner ends of the terminals 12 are connected to the motor leads by means of a device (not shown) similar to thedevice 24.

While the form of embodiment of the invention as herein disclosed constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, as may come within the scope of the claim which follow.

.What is claimed is as follows:

'In an electrical connector assembly, a housing element having an aperture therein, a onepiece stamped sheet metal cup-shaped terminal mounting element supported within said aperture from the outside of said housing element and with the rim of said cup-shaped element disposed on the outside of said housing element, a plurality of terminals projecting through the bottom wall of said cup-shaped terminal mounting element, the bottom wall of said mounting element having a plurality of terminal receiving apertures formed therein, said mounting element having integrally formed tubular portions adjacent said apertures, and insulating bushings hermetically sealing said terminals within said tubular portions, the rim of said cup-shaped element extending beyond the outer ends of said terminals and having a cutaway portion, and connector means removably attached to the outer ends of said terminals and having a portion extending through said cut away portion, said rim substantially circumscribing said connector means so as to provide protection therefor'and the outer face of said connector means being disposed below the rim of said cup-shaped element so as to be protected thereby.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Ekvall et al May 26, 1959 

